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“Green is a repeat offender, and repeat, and repeat.”

It bcame apparent to many, myself included as a 35+ year of levels of officiating, coaching, playing, and admin over leagues, that the pro game was morphing into something that hardly resembled basketball. I played and officiated before three point shot and the restricted area was invented. Illegal dribbles are now almost non-existent and some players, like Iverson, have made a career on being able to have his dribbling hand clear under the ball for multiple steps and it is ignored.

Certain players do not foul out of the game at home and seldom on the road. They get ticky tack fouls called for them and are allowed leeway when talking to an official, fan, or another player.

Fighting on the floor has increased as the NBA, like hockey, (Barley’s olympic elbow) has started providing players with limited skills but can offer violence as enforcers opportunities.

Remember when they took away the hand check? Now it’s an out and out grab and hold on. And I don’t know how many times a defensive player at low post has literally picked up a posting offensive player and carried him 2 to 3 feet away from the basket to mess up his shot selection.

The game is not what it was. When teams started bringing in gladiators to put butts in the seats, it got worse and the accepted acts start to flow down into NCAA and National Federation games which go clear down to K-12. So is Green a singled out player or just one of the tools for the NBA to try to legitimize itself. Should he be suspended indefinitely? Yes. But so should the owners and the rules committees. It’s not sport...it’s business. And they are selling back alley tactics to draw. And with it come the thugs.

So is it ballet or a street fight? And they even increased the official count from 2 to 3 and it still happens more and more. And it will get worse before it gets better.

wy69